


A Cabin in the Woods

by myshownu



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 00:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10887756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myshownu/pseuds/myshownu
Summary: Jongin lives in a cabin deep in the mountains. One day he finds an injured, unconscious man in the forests surrounding his house. He takes the guy back to his house and slowly nurses him back to health. The boy doesn’t speak, just stares at him with big round eyes.





	A Cabin in the Woods

The sky was a solid gray, the type of grey that makes it hard to tell what time of day it is. Jongin steps carefully over the roots littering the path in front of him. He has walked this path hundreds of times; it circles the area around his house and passes by the stream that flows down the side of the mountain. The stream is only a few hundred feet away now, and Jongin can hear the water mumbling under the layer of frost. 

Once he gets to the river, he bends down to pick up a stone from the riverbed. He has always loved collecting the round stones that accumulate in the stream, so soft and round, worn by time. He has a collection of them sitting on a shelf next to his bed. This one in particular is very dark in color and Jongin notes that it will be a good addition to the collection. He drys it off and puts it in his pocket. As he stand up he notices a strange shape lying on the ground near the other side of the river. Looking closer he realizes it's a body, a human body.

It has been a long time since Jongin has seen anyone up near near his mountain but he knows that hikers occasionally pass through. This man must be a lost hiker Jongin thinks What if he’s hurt? Jongin quickly hops across the river, following the path of rocks he had used before, and reaches the other bank. 

Now that he’ closer he can see blood on the man’s shirt. The man is sitting propped against a tree, with his shirt ripped open to expose a bloody chest. There’s also a large wound on his head, which is dripping blood down over his face, around his ears, and down far enough to join with the blood on his chest. Jongin rushes over and kneels down next to him. There is so much blood that Jongin cannot immediately see where it originated from.

“Hello?” Jongin asks, his voice shaky and unsure. “Uh.. Hey! Hello? Hey are you ok?” Jongin pats the side of the ans face but he doesn’t wake up. 

“Shit” Jongin curses under his breath. He puts two fingers on the side of the man’s neck and checks for a pulse. His skin is a bit cold, but Jongin can feel a faint pulse. Jongin doesn’t know what to do. His heart is beating fast and the man won’t wake up? Maybe he should just take him back to the cabin? Yes. Thats a good idea. Who know’s how long the man has been out here, and he could die of exposure. Hopefully he doesn’t have any sort of broken bones, or moving him may make his condition worse, but Jongin has no other way of helping him. 

Luckily the man’s body is not too big and Jongin is able to drape the man across his back. The trek back to the cabin is long and uphill, and Jongin has to stop multiple times to rest. By the time they reach the cabin Jongin is sweating buckets, and the sun has sunk lower in the sky. The man is still unconscious, and his breaths are still barely detectable. 

Jongin sets the man down on his kitchen chair and quickly gets out his medical kit, dusty and unused from his cupboard. He gets a cloth and wets it, using it to lightly dab at the skin on the man’s chest and face. Carefully, he wipes away as much blood as he can, revealing the man’s smooth skin underneath. The blood has ruined the man’s shirt, and had even dripped onto his pants. Jongin hesitates before removing the man’s shirt, but the clothes are also damp with sweat, and Jongin knows that he might catch a cold. Once the man’s entire upper body is exposed Jongin stares. The man is, to put it lightly, well toned. His arms and torso are quite muscular. Under the many bruises and cuts he can see how strong the man is. 

Jongin continues to wipe him down and tries not to disturb the scabs or bruises. Some of the wounds look older, bruises ranging from fresh purple to a stale greenish yellow. One of the wounds is particularly deep and he realizes it most likely needs stitches. Jongin cringes at the thought, but he knows it must be done. He reaches back into the medical kit and pulls out a needle and thread. After cleaning the man’s chest off as best he can, he prepares the needle, he starts sewing up the wound. It takes longer than expected and by the time he’s done, the cabin is getting very dark. 

Jongin leaves the man momentarily to get a fire going, and pulls the kitchen chair closer to the fire so the man’s body gets closer to the flame.

In the light of the fire, Jongin finally notices the man’s appearance. His lips are full and heart shaped, and his cheeks are round and soft. This man’s face is beautiful. Unsure of what to do with these thought, Jongin pushes them to the back of his mind. Right now he needs to focus on getting the guy better. He dug around in the closet for some blankets and starts draping them over the man’s shoulders and torso. He can see goosebumps forming on the man’s skin so he scoots the chair even closer to the flames and tucks the blankets in tightly around him. 

-

After a few hours of silence, the man starts moving. He lets out a low groan and Jongin jumps up. As soon as the man opens his eyes he tries to stand up but quickly falls back into his chair wincing. Jongin rushes over to him, and the man flinches away from him, raising his arms to cover his face and throwing the blankets off onto the floor. Jongin stops and kneels down in front of him. 

“Hey…” Jongin is not really sure what to say “I, um, found you in the woods. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe here”.

The man slowly lowers his arms and looks down at him. 

“What’s your name?” Jongin asks. The man doesn’t reply. He is busy taking in the room, clearly on edge.” 

“Do you know how you got out here? How you got injured?” Still no reply. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here if you want and I can bring you back down the mountain tomorrow morning. There’s a hospital in tow-” The man quickly shakes his head, his eyes wide with fear.

“You should really go to the hospital” Jongin continued, his face filled with concern “You probably have a concussion and I’m not equipped to treat you for that here”.

The man continued shaking his head vigorously. Jongin runs a hand through his hair and sighs. 

“Well, I guess you can stay here then. I’ll do my best to help you, but you have to tell me what happened” The man stared at him silently. If it wasn’t for his negative reaction to the hospital earlier, Jongin would have thought the man was deaf. His expression was thankful now as he looked up at Jongin from the chair. 

After it became apparent the man wasn’t going to say anything further Jongin continued. “Alright, fine you need to rest anyways. Here, I’ll show you to the bed.” Jongin reached his hand out to help the man up and he quickly flinched away. But as soon as Jongin started pulling away he leaned back in to the touch, apologising wordlessly. He stands slowly with Jongin's help and leans into him as they limp to the bedroom. Jongin can feel his warm body pressed against him the whole way until they reach the bed. 

The man is too tired to protest as Jongin sets him down on the sheets and reaches down to take off his socks. Once the socks are removed he lightly grips his ankles as he swings the man’s legs up on the bed and the man lowers himself backwards onto the blankets. Jongin walks to the other side of the room to get another blanket and returns to find the man blinking up at him under heavy eyelids. Jongin tries to smile warmly as he spreads the blanket out over him. 

“If you need anything during the night, let me know ok?” But the man’s eyes are already closed and Jongin walks softly out of the room, Shutting the door quietly behind him. 

After cleaning up the medical supplies and tidying up Jongin walks back out to the living room and settles on the couch. He pulls a blanket over himself and tries to fall to sleep. He stares up at the ceiling, his eyelids refusing to stay shut. His mind would not stop wandering to the man. How did he end up in the woods? Why won’t he go to the hospital? Why doe he linch away from me? Why won’t he say anything?

These questions continued floating around his head until exhaustion finally hit him, his body tired from carrying the man up to his cabin. 

\--

He woke to screams in the darkness. He shot up from his sleeping position and threw the blanket to the floor. The screams were coming from the bedroom. Jongin rushed quickly to the room and flung the door open. The man was writhing in his sheets and sobbing loudly. 

“No! Please! Stop! Please!!” He wailed and clutched his hands over his head, his body recoiling from invisible assailants. Jongin rushed to his side, unsure of what to do.. He reached out a hand and shook the man’s shoulder. 

“Hey, wake up” The man continued crying and wailing and Jongin shook his shoulder harder. “Hey! Wake up!” His voice more forceful this time “It’s just a dream!” 

The man suddenly sat up in bed, eyes wide in terror. His gaze went immediately to Jongin and he cowered backwards once again covering his head and continued pleading. 

“Please I won’t disobey again please don’t hurt me please!” His voice cracked as his torso shook with the force of his sobs. 

Jongin snaps out of his frozen state of shock and desperately tries to calm the man down. 

“Don’t worry! Um-I just-I’m not going to hurt you ok? I don’t know who was hurting you but they’re gone now.” He reaches a hand out to touch the man’s shoulder, but quickly pulls it away when the man flinches. 

He turns around at the touch and looks at Jongin again. The terror in his eyes lessens slightly but he lets out another sob. Even in the darkness Jongin can tell he’s still shaking. His wide eyes stare at Jongin, reacting to every small movement. 

“Shhhhh” Jongin hushes his babbling pleas. “Take deep breaths. It was just a dream. You’re safe here and I won’t hurt you.” Jongin keeps up a stream of what he hopes to be calming reassurances. After a few minutes he can see that it’s working and the man is calming down, his breathing returning to a normal pace, although it remains shaky. The whole time the man keeps his eyes on Jongin, watching carefully.

Once the heavy breathing and sobs have subsided Jongin sits silently. The man stares back quietly. 

After another moment of silence Jongin starts talking again.

“I found you yesterday in the woods. Do you remember? You were really injured and I brought you back here. I don’t know how you got out there or how you got hurt but I have no intentions of harming you.”

The man gives a small nod. His memory seemingly returning and he relaxes a bit.

“Are you going to be alright until the morning?” The man nods again. “OK, well, I’ll be right out there if you need help. If you have those dreams again I’ll come wake you up.” Jongin offers.

The man’s body is clearly much more relaxed, the stiff tension of his muscles has faded into what looks like exhaustion. He wipes the tears from his face with the back of his hand and sniffles. His eyes droop again and he lays back down on the bed.

Jongin steps toward the bed and pulls the blanket up over him once again. As he turns to leave and he hears the man say something that sounds like a thank you. He stops and glances over his shoulder to see the man lifting his head up and looking at him. 

Jongin just nods and leaves the door cracked behind him.

\---

In the morning Jongin wakes up to the sound of footsteps in the kitchen. A brief moment of panic quickly subsided as he realizes it is not an intruder. Jongin walks to the kitchen to find the man rooting through his cupboards. WIthout thinking he reaches out to tap the man on the shoulder. He immediately regrets this as the man jolts and turns around, brandishing a can of beans well past it’s expiration date. 

“Whoa! Hey! It’s me OK?” Jongin takes a step backwards, but stops as the man lowers the can of beans. The man says nothing and Jongin is getting irritated with his apparent muteness. 

“I guess I should be more careful, sorry.” Jongin should have figured it out by now that the guy clearly doesn’t like to be touched. “Are you hungry? I can make us breakfast?” He offers. The man again doesn’t say anything and nods his head, his wide eyes turning to the floor. 

“Ok I’ll make us something, just have a seat” He gestures to the table and the man takes a seat.

Jongin gently takes the can of beans out of his hand and puts in back in the cupboard. He turns to open another cabinet and pulls out some pancake mix. He mixes a lot of batter; he figures then man is probably very hungry, so he makes a lot. 

“Here you go” Jongin puts a plate down in front of the man and puts the first pancake down on his plate. He turns around to get some syrup from the, and when he turns around he finds that the man has already devoured half of it.  
“Woah slow down there buddy!” Jongin laughs. “If you haven’t eaten in awhile then you probably go slow”

The man slows down, a bit of a sheepish look on his face. Jongin hands him the syrup and sighs. 

When all the pancakes are made Jongin sits down across from the man and starts eating a plate of his own. The man has eaten 80% of the pancakes, but there was still plenty for Jongin. They ate in silence. After a few minutes Jongin began to wonder if the man would ever talk at all. 

“Hey, I know you probably don’t want to talk, but at least tell me how you are feeling. Does anything hurt?”

The man looks up. He shakes his head quickly then looks back down.

“You know you can’t stay mute forever.” Jongin sighs, somewhat exasperated, the whole situation is beginning to wear on him. “You haven’t even told me your name. I don’t know how you got hurt. You could have injuries that we don’t even know about and you need to see a real doctor.”

There is a long pause and the man keeps his eyes down on his plate. 

“You can’t know my name” The man replies quietly. “It’s not safe.”

Jongin stares at the man. Never had he imagined his voice to be that deep, and that smooth. And what was this about his real name? His brain is still processing when the man speaks again.

“What’s your name?” 

“J-Jongin” Jongin has suddenly lost confidence. “Kim Jongin. Some people call me Kai.”

“Thank you Jongin.” The man’s eyes are turned to the floor.

**Author's Note:**

> This is another fic I've been working on!  
> Let me know if you are interested in seeing more chapters :)


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